Foundation Art
The primary goal of the Foundation Art Program is to enable students to synthesize information relative to creative pursuits through exposure to fundamental conceptual approaches and the development of basic skills common to artistic endeavors. This includes developing the ability to integrate verbal and visual communication, the ability to express ideas in a tangible form, and the ability to practice resourcefulness, responsibility, quality crafting skills and a productive work ethic.
Curriculum
Basic Studies Requirements
- ART 1040 Object Drawing*
- ART 1050 Drawing Studio*
- ART 1070 Form and Surface*
- ART 1080 Form and Space*
- ART 1090 Time and Process**
- ART 2360 Professional Practice
- ART 3250 Writing About Art
*Prerequisites for all studio art, design, and art education majors and minors
**Required for all Kinetic Imaging majors and minors.
Students should consult the WMU catalog for the foundation art program course descriptions and requirements.
Collaborations
Justopposition: All the Art That's Printed to Fit
A SCAD/WMU Exquisite Corpse Collaboration
In the spirit of the Surrealists' exquisite corpse drawings, our Art 1050: Drawing Studio students have created the "top, above, north, up, over" part of a drawing, and the Savannah College of Art and Design Drawing II students have created the "bottom, south, down, below, under" part of a drawing. The two halves will be united and exhibited at WMU in Kalamazoo, Mich., and SCAD in Atlanta, GA.
Foundation Reading Program
Pan-foundation summer reading, Art and Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland was organized for all foundation students and faculty. Individual class discussions and inter-curricular assignments were carried out relating to ideas in the book.
Medici Postcards
Pan-foundation area project involving oversight of producing, adjudicating, documenting, printing and presenting of postcards of student works to the College of Fine Arts Medici Society for Dean Margaret Merrion.
Aole Miller
Visiting performance artist. Arranged for evening foundation classes to attend a performance and discussion of Miller's work with Balinese masks.
Faber-Castell
Workshop arranged for artist with Faber-Castell to conduct two educational workshops for professors and foundation students using Faber-Castell art materials.
Turning the Page/Burning the Page
Pan-foundation book project called Turning the Page/Burning the Page in which every student in the foundation program created altered book. Adjudicated books were exhibited at the Box Factory in St. Joseph, MI.
Inter-actions
Semester-long, pan-foundations project in which foundation students and faculty worked with visiting artist James Elniski, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, to complete an installation in the courtyard at Sangren Hall.
Medici Masks
Pan-foundation Medici Mask project for Dean Margaret Merrion's College of Fine Arts Medici Society. Masks were created within the curricular structure of the foundation program as gifts for the members of the Medici Society.
Student Work
Joy Williams
ART 1050: Drawing Studio
acrylic, ink and watercolor